Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday said India is laying the ground for the first nuclear war over water by disrupting the supply of the precious resource and disregarding the World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan.
Addressing the Middle East Institute in Washington, Bilawal, who is also chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, said India shutting off Pakistan's water supply is laying the foundation for the first nuclear war over water. "We have declared that cutting off our water supply would be an act of war," he added.
The PPP chairman said, "We don't say it in a jingoistic manner. We don't say it with any relish. It is an existential crisis for us. Any country on the planet, no matter their size, their strength or their ability, would fight for their survival and fight for their water."
He asserted that India must abide by the IWT and the US and other countries must take a firm stance to not allow it to violate the treaty.
"You cannot allow this precedent to be set in the Pakistan context, because we'll fight the first war, but it won't be the last. If India is allowed to stop our water, every upper riparian with hostilities to a lower riparian will have a carte blanche," Bilawal highlighted.
"And if our dialogue and diplomacy in pursuit of peace are to be successful, if we are to talk to India, have a positive dialogue with India, make new arrangements, new deals, perhaps even new treaties with India, then surely they first must abide by the old treaties and take back their decision vis-a-vis the IWT," the former foreign minister noted.
He said India held the IWT in abeyance after the deterioration in relations between the two countries following the April 22 Pahalgam attack in occupied Kashmir. In retaliation, Pakistan decided that it would exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to the Simla Agreement, in abeyance. It also announced the closure of the Wagah border and suspension of all trade with New Delhi, among other measures.
Bilawal criticised the Indian government, saying it had refused cooperation on terrorism, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's offer for cooperation on investigating the Pahalgam attack, US President Donald Trump's mediation in the current dispute and more dialogue.
"All that means there'll be more terrorism, more war, and no peace. The prime minister of India and his government may want to damn his people to this fate. I refuse to damn my people, and I refuse to damn the people of India to this fate, which is why my delegation and I will be traveling from capital to capital with a simple message: We want peace. We need your help," said Bilawal.
"Surely, India and Pakistan working together, we can eradicate terrorism from the subcontinent. India and Pakistan working together can create that conducive environment in Kashmir where the people that live there can live there free from oppression, suffocation, and actually see prosperity. India and Pakistan's cooperation obviously would require the waters to flow freely, but it should lead to broader cooperation," Bilawal maintained.
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